'Ronaldo ticks all the boxes at Chelsea'
FT Desk
- 17 Aug 2022 11:44 BST
- 3 min read
Atletico Madrid have moved to the front of the queue to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, but Chelsea should go back in for him according to Paul Merson.
Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes has been busy trying to find a new club for his player this summer following United's failure to qualify for the Champions League.
Chelsea were floated as a possible destination earlier in the window, but Thomas Tuchel shot down the deal and is now chasing Barcelona striker Pierre-Emerick Aubaeymang, whom he worked with at Borussia Dortmund.
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Ronaldo's 18 Premier League goals last season masked a lack of pressing and teamwork, which have been cited as some of the reasons United failed to qualify for the Champions League, but Merson thinks there would be no such problems at Chelsea.
The perfect fit?
"Chelsea need a centre forward," Merson, a two-time league winner with Arsenal, wrote in his Sky Sports column.
"You've got two of the best wing-backs in the world of football [in Reece James and Ben Chilwell]. Maybe even three with [Marc] Cucurella coming in. They play so high up the pitch. It's not like at Manchester United where you're playing near the halfway line.
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"You go and play at Stamford Bridge, and everyone stands right on the edge of their box. At Chelsea, Ronaldo wouldn't have to run anywhere. The amount of times the wing-backs get the ball down the sides, if you whip that ball in for Ronaldo, you're talking about one of the best finishers in the world.
"You don’t get 700-800 goals if you can't finish. It just ticks all the boxes for me."
The package to acquire Ronaldo from United should set buying clubs back around €24 million, but Chelsea could comfortably afford that fee having already spent more than €180m on the likes of Cucurella, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly.
